Two Day Magazine

..And Another One Bites the Dust

There really may be a curse placed on anyone’s head that dares to do a reality show chronically their lives. It seems one after another, these women’s marriages end up in shambles. (But, hey, at least they usually get a book deal, hit song or fashion line out of it.) The latest to enter The Real Divorced Housewives Club is none other than our beloved and deranged favorite from Orange County, Vicki Gunvalson. She has recently filed for divorce from Donn, her husband of 15 years.

Now, this actually surprised me. Call me a sucker for love, but last season (which, by the way, was my FAVORITE season of Orange County) they seemed to have overcome the bumps in the road and renewed their vows in a lovely ceremony. Vicki had previously stated that Donn didn’t fill up her love tank. That her “love tank was empty.” After the renewal, it seemed as though an empty tank was a thing of the past and they were going to make it through. Her son, Michael Gunvalson (Donn’s stepson) had this to say about his mother’s split.

“I don’t really get into their relationship too much, but I don’t think they’ve been happy for a while. They’re just not really enjoying each other’s company anymore.”

When asked what was the driving factor behind the split, Michael cited his mother’s (insane) busy work schedule as part of the problem.

“She’s got a lot going on and trying to keep busy at work and do her thing. I mean, my mom and Donn haven’t been spending much time together.”

Was he surprised by the split?

“They had issues when I was a little kid and stuff. Mom’s always gone and traveling and Donn deserves someone who’s going to be at home and she deserves someone that’s going to support what she does.”

Now, Vicki isn’t the only one that has headed for divorce court. Here are a list of other Housewives’ whose marriages bit the dust:

• New York housewife, Countess Luann de Lesseps and her hubby ended their union when she discovered him cheating on her with an Ethiopian woman in Geneva. He revealed the infidelity through an email. OUCH.

• Orange County housewife, Tamra Barney and her abusive husband Simon filed for divorce earlier in October. He alleges she cheated and was verbally abusive, but after watching the show, he was the one throwing around the threats and acting like a controlling jerk. Good riddance.

• This one makes me sad. Atlanta housewife, DeShawn Snow appeared on the first season and seemed to have a solid marriage to her husband, NBA star Eric Snow, whom she was married to for 12 years. No reason revealed for the split. That one makes me sad.

• One of my favorite hot messes, Camille Grammer, Kelsey Grammer’s ex-wife, and star of the Beverly Hills division, ended in a cheating scandal when he apparently left her for a 29 year old. His new love recently suffered a miscarriage, as to which Camille replied it was a result of “bad karma”. Yikes!

• Atlanta’s very own diva, Sheree Whitfield, who was famous for stating that she “just wanted her seven figure settlement” left Bob Whitfield in a very public and nasty divorce that netted her $775,000 along with child support, part of her ex’s retirement plans and 401K, as well as the Range Rover. Independence never tasted so good!

• Don’t count out D.C. Cast memeber Cat Ommanney and her now ex-hubby, Charles, are getting divorced as she debates whether to return to Bravo’s hit show for a second season. “I’m just a bit of a truth-teller, and I need to kind of think about what I say before I say it half the time. But, I’m true and I’m honest and I’m real.” Maybe a little too real? Perhaps her honesty was too much for her husband and that coupled with  his intense schedule, broke them apart.

• Sadly, my favorite Atlanta housewife and diva to end all divas, NeNe Leakes, is also ending her marriage to long time love, Greg, after over 10 years together. He claims to have spent over $300,000 on his high-maintenance wife, but her attitude was too much for him once the cameras started rolling. “And the thing (success) got to her head. And that’s when the problems came.” The other problem may have been Greg lying to her about his financial situation and going behind her back to ask her friend, Dwight, for a loan. In marriage, the truth may hurt, but it’s better than living a lie.

So, what have we learned? Vicki certainly isn’t the first Housewife to see her personal life fall apart, but she most likely won’t be the last, either. If you want your marriage to work, it seems you should keep the Bravo cameras far, far away.